WASHINGTON, DC – In case you missed it, the Club for Growth Foundation submitted a petition to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) calling on the SEC to reexamine their proposed rule which compels public companies to submit Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance information (“ESG Rule”),
that is not material to financial risks and returns. The rule circumvents the will of Congress and is a blatant attempt to push the woke ESG agenda. The Foundation’s petition requests that the SEC issue a Notice of Supplemental Rulemaking and reopen the public comment period for the ESG Rule.
According to a recent U.S Supreme Court decision in West Virginia v. EPA, the rulemaking authority of administrative agencies has been restricted through the application of a number of factors that should be considered in rules implicate major policy decisions. If the SEC choses to proceed with the proposed ESG Rule, the SEC must explain how the rule is permissible under the West Virginia decision and they must allow the public a meaningful opportunity to comment.
“Joe Biden’s federal agencies are constantly working to push their woke ESG agenda, including by exceeding the rulemaking authority that has been delegated to them by Congress,” said Club for Growth Foundation President David McIntosh. “The Biden Administration continues to embrace the failed socialist policies that have led to historic inflation and plunged the country into a recession. Before imposing increased and unnecessary costs on already struggling businesses, which would further damage the already weak US economy, Biden and the SEC must justify their actions in light of the Supreme Court’s recent West Virginia v. EPA decision, while giving American businesses the opportunity to meaningfully comment.”
“The federal bureaucratic Leviathan is once again attempting to usurp the power that rightly belongs to the American people,” said Vice President and Publisher of The Political Forum and author of the Dictatorship of Woke Capital Stephan Soukup “In this case, it is also trying to alter more than seventy years of precedent on the definition of materiality for publicly traded businesses. The SEC knows that its proposed sustainability rule is faulty and goes far beyond its legislative mandate. The Club for Growth Foundation is right to warn the Commission that the rule, as written, is unfeasible and that it should not proceed with its planned implementation. As West Virginia v. EPA makes clear, if the SEC does proceed without further review and deliberation, it will, ultimately, lose this fight in court.”
Click here to read Club for Growth Foundation’s petition to the SEC.